Game On - A Haikyuu!! Mafia AU

- Chapter Seventeen -

•Recap•

Now with the brightness turned up, a shadow was beginning to become more and more visible, and more and more recognizable.

A person.

———

Kageyama took in a sharp breath of pain, leaning back with a defeated sigh.

The past five minutes had been spent with him trying to work the ropes loose again, burning pain searing through his fingertips where his nails trickled blood.

Focus, Tobio! He narrowed his eyes, trying again to dig his nails into the restraints, flinching at the sharp agony and biting down on his bottom lip to quiet his gasp.

He knew it wouldn't work, somewhere deep down. But he wanted to believe so badly that he was making progress, that he was one step closer to going back home, one step closer to Hinata and the rest of his 'family'.

To the rest of Karasuno.

But it hurt so bad, he could barely move his fingers without a blinding pain shooting through his fingertips.

He slumped back in the seat, tilted his head back and let it rest against the support of his frail shoulder blades.

He couldn't do it.

No matter what he could try, it wouldn't work. He was stuck, and he knew it.

Stuck and left to whatever ounce of pity Oikawa had in him, which in the grand scheme of things was significantly small.

The last few minutes he'd spent by himself had been therapeutic, in an odd way, the pain acting as a sort of distraction from reality.

Was he ready to die? No.

But had he accepted that he would? Yes.

He missed his mafia, missed Tanaka and Noya's laughter ringing through the halls at two in the morning when everyone else was trying to sleep, missed watching as Daichi and Suga exchanged those disappointed looks with each other whenever one of the cadets acted up.

Missed watching in amusement as Yamaguchi wandered after Tsukki with pointless apologies, missed Asahi's panicked expression whenever Noya suggested doing something that seemed even remotely dangerous, missed Ennoshita's small smile whenever something went according to plan, even missed Kiyoko putting Tanaka and Noya back in their places as Yachi watched in awe.

Hell, he even missed Tsukki. It was surprising how much he wanted to see the blond adjust his glasses with that iconic irritated sigh and roll of his eyes.

But above it all, he missed Hinata.

Reminisced on the time they'd come back from a successful mission and practically collapsed into a sleeping heap on the couch, remembered what it felt like having the boy's head resting against his chest, arms loosely hung around his sides.

Of course when they'd woken up from that several hour nap and found each other in the rather awkward position, it had been all flustered insults back and forth trying to convince one another that there was nothing romantic about it.

Even one of the Godfathers of the mafia, Keishin Ukai, had laughed heartily and insisted on them being lovebirds when he had come to check in on everything that day.

But aside from how embarrassed and frustrated Kageyama felt in that moment, he also remembered a warmth he'd never experienced before flooding his chest. He recalled it was nice, a sort of fuzziness about the notion of having Hinata that close to him.